1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transport-securing arrangement for a pressure plate assembly of a multi-disk clutch in which the pressure plate assembly includes a housing arrangement designed to be connected to a flywheel arrangement, a pressure plate arrangement coupled to the housing arrangement for rotation in common therewith, a stored-energy device supported by the housing arrangement on one side and by the pressure plate arrangement on the other, an intermediate plate connected to the housing arrangement for rotation in common therewith, and a first clutch disk having a friction surface area positioned between the pressure plate and the intermediate plate.
2. Description of the Related Art
Before a pressure plate assembly has been attached to a flywheel arrangement and thus before there is any xe2x80x9cforce feedbackxe2x80x9d acting in opposition to the force being exerted by the stored-energy device, the stored-energy device pushes the pressure plate and thus also the components cooperating with it away from the housing arrangement. This force has the effect of also imposing relatively severe loads on the elements such as the tangential leaf springs which nonrotatably connect the pressure plate and possibly the intermediate plate as well to the housing arrangement.
When a wear-compensating device is provided in the area of this type of pressure plate assembly, an additional problem is that the wear-compensating device may execute undesirable adjusting movements when there is no force acting in opposition to the action of the stored-energy device.
An object of the present invention is to provide a transport-securing arrangement for a pressure plate assembly of a multi-disk clutch which avoids in a simple and reliable manner the imposition of excessive loads on the various components while they are in the ready-for-transport condition and to prevent unwanted adjusting movements where a wear-compensating compensating device is provided.
According to the present invention, the object is achieved by a transport-securing arrangement for the pressure plate assembly of a multi-disk clutch, where the pressure plate assembly includes a housing arrangement designed to be connected to a flywheel arrangement, a pressure plate arrangement coupled to the housing arrangement for rotation therewith, a stored-energy device having one side supported by the housing arrangement and another side supported by the pressure plate arrangement, an intermediate plate connected to the housing arrangement for rotation therewith, and a first clutch disk having a friction surface area positioned between the pressure plate and the intermediate plate. The transport-securing arrangement includes a plurality of connecting elements, preferably bolt elements, for tightly connecting the intermediate plate to the housing arrangement.
The tight connection of the housing arrangement to the intermediate plate eliminates the freedom of axial movement of the intermediate plate with respect to the housing arrangement, which freedom is present during operation of the clutch. Accordingly, the connection creates an opposing support element for the pressure plate and for the first clutch disk upon which the pressure plate acts. This opposing support element takes over the force feedback function which is normally fulfilled by the flywheel arrangement in a completely assembled multi-disk clutch. When this type of pressure plate assembly is equipped with a wear-compensating device, the transport securing arrangement prevents the occurrence of undesirable adjusting movements before attachment of the pressure plate assembly to the flywheel arrangement.
So that a uniform retaining action is obtained, the connecting elements may be positioned in an outer circumferential area of the housing arrangement and distributed in the circumferential direction.
The process of attaching a pressure plate assembly equipped with the transport-securing securing device according to the present invention to a flywheel arrangement may be effected in an especially simple way if it is ensured that the connecting elements allow the pressure plate assembly to be positioned on and attached to the flywheel arrangement while the various components are still in the secured-for-transport state.
When a transport-securing arrangement according to the present invention is provided, it is still important minimize costs, despite the advantages it may offer. To accomplish this goal, at least some of the connecting elements of the transport-securing arrangement may also be used as fastening bolts for attaching the housing arrangement to the flywheel arrangement, for example, when the pressure plate assembly is to be connected to the flywheel arrangement.
Because the fastening bolts used to fasten the pressure plate assembly to the flywheel arrangement must have a certain minimum length, which is usually longer than would be necessary for the transport-securing function according to the present invention, the connecting element which may, for example, be bolt elements extending through openings in the housing arrangement with externally threaded sections screwed into internally threaded openings in the intermediate plate and that the bolt elements are supported on the housing arrangement by spacers. For example, the spacers may comprise sleeves on which the heads of the bolt elements rest.
To further simplify the assembly of a friction clutch by limiting as far as possible the number of different assemblies which must be handled during the assembly process, the pressure plate assembly may also comprise a second clutch disk with a friction surface area in a position following the intermediate plate, wherein the second clutch disk is connected to the first clutch disk by a common hub. The use of a common hub ensures that the second clutch disk, for which no opposing support element would otherwise be present before the flywheel arrangement is attached, is also held in a defined manner on the pressure plate assembly.
The first clutch disk and the second clutch disk may be configured with internal teeth which engage with a configuration of external teeth on the hub so that the two clutch disks may be connected nonrotatably by the common hub to a power takeoff shaft.
Motion stops for the first and second clutch disks may also be provided on the hub, one motion stop at each of the two axial ends of the hub.
Because the second clutch disk along with the common hub cannot be attached until after the first clutch disk and the intermediate plate have been connected to the housing arrangement, the motion stop cooperating with the first clutch disk may comprise a latching element as a way of realizing the connecting function to be provided by the common hub. The latching element arrives in a stopping position after the hub with its configuration of external teeth has been introduced into the configuration of internal teeth of the first clutch disk. For example, the latching element may comprise a latching ring pretensioned in the radially outward direction.
To obtain a tight connection between the second clutch disk and the hub, which is advantageous especially for the sake of avoiding rattling noises during the operation of the friction clutch, a pretensioning element may be provided in the area of the motion stop cooperating with the second clutch disk to pretension the second clutch disk so that the second clutch disk remains in contact with an opposing support area of the hub. For example, the opposing support area may be formed by a radial shoulder of the configuration of external teeth on the common hub.
The friction surface area of the first clutch disk is held between the pressure plate and the intermediate plate after the secured-for-transport state has been produced.
The present invention also relates to a clutch disk assembly for a multi-disk clutch including at least two clutch disks arranged in succession, each clutch disk having a friction surface in its radially outer area, an intermediate plate between the friction surface areas of the minimum of two clutch disks, and a hub on which the minimum of two clutch disks are held in essentially nonrotatable fashion. At least one motion stop is arranged on the hub for each of the clutch disks for limiting the relative motion between these clutch disks and the hub in at least one axial direction.
Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed solely for purposes of illustration and not as a definition of the limits of the invention, for which reference should be made to the appended claims. It should be further understood that the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale and that, unless otherwise indicated, they are merely intended to conceptually illustrate the structures and procedures described herein.